Translating English Names In Chinese Symbols For Tattoos

Could this happen to you?

This story courtesy of the BBC News.

When teenager Joanne Raine had her boyfriend's nickname "Roo" tattooed on her stomach it was supposed to be a sign of her undying love.

The 19-year-old from Darlington paid £80 for the Chinese artwork in 2004 and was delighted with the results.

That was until she showed it off in a Chinese takeaway and found out it actually spelled "supermarket"!

The pair have now split up, but Miss Raine said she will keep the tattoo because she cannot afford a new one.

She said: "I did it because I wanted to show him how much I loved him and he had one done as well.

"I did not think about whether it meant forever. I'm just going to have to keep it as I can't afford to get another one done."

So this poor young woman now goes through life with the word SUPERMARKET tattooed on her stomach!

DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU

Winged Dragon Chinese
Sterling Silver Pendant Necklace

This beautiful flying dragon pendant is made from sterling silver. Jewelry is rarely made from only silver because it can be bent! Sterling silver is the purest blend used and is considered "real silver".

And what better than a flying Chinese dragon!

There are three methods of translating English names into Chinese symbols

1. The first method is the use of Chinese characters for their phonetic value - the sound of the word.

This is the most usual method. For instance, consider the name of Scarlet O'Hara, the feisty heroine in Gone with the Wind.

It becomes which sounds out as Si-jia-li Ao-ha-la. And yes, you do have to use your imagination a bit to get these sounds!

When using Chinese symbols to represent the SOUND of the name, hopefully the characters also have attractive and accurate meanings.

In this case of Scarlet's name, jia means 'good' and li means 'pretty'. So it's half right! That spirited gal was certainly pretty but I wouldn't have called her good!

However, many characters are used for their sounds only. For example si, a rather old fashioned word meaning 'this', and is conventionally used to represent the 's' sound.

For many English names there is a traditional translation that is widely used.

'Peter' is Bi-de.

'George' is Qiao-zhi.

'John' is normally written as Yue-han, sounded out like that because it comes from the German word 'Johann'.

With rarer names new translations have to be created and this often results in different versions of the same name. In many cases Taiwan, Hongkong, and Mainland China come up with quite different interpretations of the words.

2. The second method of translating names in Chinese symbols is by the use of a real, Chinese-style name often similar to the original in pronunciation.

In real life, foreigners residing in China MUST have a Chinese name. In novels, the use of Chinese-style names eases the burden of having to remember tens, maybe hundreds, of long foreign names.

Chinese names consist of the surname (family name) in first position, followed by a given name of one or two characters.

Another translation of 'Gone with the Wind' gives Scarlet O'Hara a Chinese name: Hao Si-jia. The surname Hao corresponds to O'Hara. Si-jia ('thought' + 'good, fine') is an attempt to write 'Scarlet' in two characters.

I'm still not sure that quite conveys our heroine's character! (If you haven't read Gone with the Wind you simply must!)

As you can see there is a real art to creating a Chinese name. This is why you should always make sure that your translation is done by someone that truly understands the Chinese language..

3. A third method is translation of the meaning. This is not common in real life, but is found in books, eg 'Cinderella' becomes Hui Gu-niang ('cinder/ash girl').

The Chinese characters used above are from from Bathrobe's Chinese, Japanese & Vietnamese Writing Systems if you would like a more scholarly look at this subject.

Anyway - you can see what a very complex thing translating names in Chinese symbols is.

Get an expert to help you!

Dictionary of Chinese Symbols:
Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought
(Routledge Dictionaries)

There is a very easy way to avoid getting a botched translation.

Don't ask that nice young man at your local Chinese takeaway. His family have been in the US for 4 generations! He's no more fluent in Chinese that I am.

Don't go to one of the free "translated by computer software" sites. It's NOT free if it ends up costing you in embarrassment and ridicule. I do understand how you feel because everyone has to watch their budget nowadays. I felt the same way because I don't have a lot of money to spare after I've paid for the essentials each week and I was doing the same. But finally I realized that a computer or an untrained person could not give me what I needed.

For me, that was to know with absolute certainty that I was not going to shame myself, my parents and grandparents by getting an inappropriate Chinese symbol. It was harder for me because I'm supposed to know better! But I don't live in China and I don't speak Chinese - and I couldn't discuss it with my grandparents.

But I found a translation service that I could trust.

The peace of mind knowing that I wasn't going to make a fool out of myself or embarrass my family is worth the small cost.